Life For A Life
by SophomoresTheory
Summary: Four months after the greatest disaster of his life Pony's given the chance to change the way things are, but it's never that easy. For every life that's been saved another must be taken away. Can he save Dally and Johnny and keep the rest of the gang, not to mention himself, in tact?
1. Chapter 1

**First chapter's short but I really just wanted to start the story. And yeah I'm pretty sure this has been done before but whatever, I really wanted to try it. **

**And yeah I'm sorry about the absence. It's a long story.**

His alarm clocked rang. Well, _rang _was a mild way of describing it. Shrieking, piercing, wailing… Ponyboy Curtis' brain droned on and on with adjectives. Squealing, squawking, crying, and blaring.

The funny thing was, Ponyboy could never remember when the ring of his alarm clock had really begun to bother him so much. When had it changed from a mild annoyance to something that filled him with dread? Or maybe it wasn't the alarm that filled him with dread but the idea that he had no other choice but to pull himself out of bed and face whatever horrors were in store for him.

He cracked an eyelid open. Soda was already gone. Pony bit back a sigh and sat up in bed before pressing the heels of his hands against his eye sockets in an attempt to ward of unwanted tears. He'd repeated this action so often in the past four months that he was surprised he hadn't given himself black eyes.

Everything was wrong. Pony could not believe how drastically different life was without them. He should but he didn't. It wasn't just the absence that hurt, although just thinking about gallant men was a stab to the heart; it was the affect he had never predicted it would have on everyone else.

Of course they were devastated, that was to be expected, but everything else was not.

Soda hardly spoke anymore, that was the general reason people attributed to the big drop in business down at the DX. He stopped being the understanding, charming, big brother a long time ago, now he was more like the ghost brother, hardly ever seen or heard.

Two-Bit was a drunk. Well he was always a drunk but it was worse, so much worse. No longer was he a social drinker for all occasions, there was hardly a moment that he hadn't been liquored up in the past four months, and Two-Bit had turned into a mean drunk. His mom threw him out of the house 'cause he stole his sister's lunch money for beer. Ponyboy didn't know where he was living. The only place that took in stray greasers was Buck's but none of them had been near the place ever since the disaster.

Steve just got angrier and angrier. He'd hit ya' as soon as look at ya'. Didn't matter anymore if you were a greaser or a soc, or if you were young or old, or fat or thin. Hell, Pony thought, it hardly mattered if you were a girl or a boy. One more fight and he'd go to the big house for a good long year. Ponyboy gave him about another week.

Pony rolled onto his side and took a deep breath through his nose. It never helped to dwell on the pain, he reminded himself, but maybe he'd stay in bed for a while longer. It was a Saturday if he wasn't mistaken, no one would be lookin' for him for a good long while. It didn't take much to convince himself, and without another thought he drifted off into the only place he could see Johnny or Dallas anymore—his dreams.

**XxXXXxX**

"If you had the chance, would you change things?" asked the voice.

"What?" Ponyboy Curtis jerked his head around the empty space he found himself in, looking for the source of the deep voice.

The omniscient voice chuckled, "Would you change it, Mr. Curtis?"

Pony swallowed, only his teachers called him "Mr. Curtis."

"Change what?" Pony asked tentatively.

The voice deepened in amusement, "The past Mr. Curtis. Would you change your fate and that of Mr. Cade and Winston?"

Pony flinched when he heard the names, but the voice either didn't notice or care because it continued on, "You could, you know. There aren't many rules restricting these kinds of things."

Pony swallowed and glared upward, as he had decided that was his best guess for wherever this voice was coming from, "I don't know what you're talking about. Get out of my dream." Because surely that's what this was. A dream.

The voice _tsked_ him, Pony got the feeling that it was not so much annoyed as amused, "I'm only trying to help. Could be a bit more grateful. I simply asked you a question, if you could change what happened to your friends would you?"

Rage exploded in his chest, "_What do you want from me_? YES! Yes, of course I would save them! Is that what you want to hear you stupid…_voice_?" Pony screamed.

When the voice spoke it sounded positively delighted, "That's exactly what I'd like to hear!"

Suddenly Ponyboy felt as though he were being squeezed through a tunnel padded with cotton. Some unidentifiable pressure was pushing at him from all sides and something dropped in his stomach. Deciding now that maybe being awake would be better than whatever awaited him here he willed his screaming alarm clock to resume its task and when that failed he begged for one of his brothers or friends to open the door and shake him awake, but no such thing occurred. That didn't shock him really everyone seemed to avoid his house like the plague now a days, "Only one rule, Curtis," The voice warned, "A life for a life!"

When Ponyboy regained his bearings he was surrounded by blackness and a bright screen. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust but when they did he realized that he was longer in the same setting as that voice but instead sitting in a dark movie house.


	2. Chapter 2

**Yeah, sorry I left Darry out of the last chapter, I couldn't think of a good reaction for him…**

**Anyway. Chapter 2.**

Pony blinked his eyes, adjusting to the absence of light as the screen before him went black. The theater was only partially filled, not unusual for a Saturday afternoon showing.

As the people filling the seats around him pushed themselves up Pony watched them go in a daze. This was not a dream; at least it didn't feel like his usual dreams. Pony swallowed and stood on shaky legs to follow the crowd through the exit. Something in the pit of his stomach was unsettled. Something deep in his mind voiced the tiny idea that just maybe he'd been given his second chance.

Pony squashed that thought immediately. There was no such thing as a second chance, he told himself ruthlessly. Really, did he think he was so damn special? That he got to go _back in time _to save the lives of two people that didn't deserve to die? Did he honestly believe that goddamn voice was anything more than a stupid taunt from the back of his mind?

He must have just had another episode, a blackout, the doctor had called them. Maybe his alarm clock _had_ rung; maybe he had gotten dressed and headed for the movie house. Maybe he'd fallen asleep and forgotten the last few hours. Apparently forgetting short periods of time was not uncommon for kids after experiencing a traumatic event.

He was a little disappointed in himself; he'd managed to go a whole month without a blackout until now. Darry had been so proud of him. Darry, the only one who was able to understand and manage his grief in a way that wasn't destructive towards himself or others.

Ponyboy shook his head at himself as he left the movie house, almost as if to shake off the completely impossible ideas that were lodging themselves in his brain. He tried to hurry home, surely Darry would be worried about him by now, and Pony had no idea if he'd told Darry where he was going or if he'd even left a note. If Pony didn't get home soon Sodapop might even get so upset he'd utter a whole sentence.

However, as he was walking, he noticed out of the corner of his eye one tuff looking car trailing him. He felt his palms begin to sweat as he quickened his pace and looked back over his shoulder and nearly tripped. The car was the same make and model as the one that had trailed him as he left the same movie house four months ago.

_Maybe_, his mind whispered, _it was the exact same one, with the exact same people_. Ponyboy refused to let the idea take hold even as the car pulled up next to him, and the exact same socs stepped out of the mustang.

"Hey greaser!" One of them sneered. Pony knew where this was going, almost as surely as he knew that this was not a regular blackout.

Uncaring of his reputation—he was already untouchable because of the murder—he turned and fled the advancing socs.

He must have been more out of shape than he thought because they had him pinned almost immediately. Pony's face was ground against the rough cement of the sidewalk, he could feel the burn across the right side of his jaw.

The soc that had him tackled flipped him over, slugging him a few times to keep him from fighting back, but he didn't need to bother. Ponyboy knew there was no use in struggling anyway; they had four guys to his one.

The boy flipped out a blade as he planted his knees on Pony's chest, which hurt way more than it sounds.

"Now greaser, how about a haircut?" Pony had no more time to marvel at the word choice, so similar to the last time he was jumped, than he did to wonder at the fact that his hair seemed to have grown back to the place it had been at four months ago._ Not a regular blackout_, his mind urged him to believe, and Pony was quickly being persuaded that there was something much, much bigger than a blackout going on here.

As the boy leaned forward with the knife and Pony abandoned his inner musings and started screaming desperately for Darry, "DARRY! Help me! _Darry_!"

Four months earlier he might have yelled for Sodapop or Two-Bit or any one of the gang, but it seemed now that Darry was the only one he could really count on anymore.

The boy sitting on him slugged him again, and hissed, "Shut him up, for God's sake!"

That's when Pony heard the footsteps, several pairs in he was correct. Suddenly the pressure on his chest was removed and someone had hefted him up and was shaking him, "Pony? Are you alright?" Darry asked.

"Yeah, Darry, I'm fine," Pony muttered, "Now quit shakin' me!" Darry let go immediately, he always did when he realized he was being too rough.

"You okay, little buddy?" Ponyboy nearly choked when he heard the question, or more accurately, the voice.

Pony swung around to stare at Sodapop as if he had grown another head. He may as well have, it would've shocked Pony a lot less. Soda had spoken maybe all of two words in the past three months, and day by day the light in his eyes growing dimmer. Now Soda stood before him looking the same as he had four months ago, light, carefree and happy.

"Soda…"Pony trailed off, staring at his brother in amazement, "you're talking!"

Soda's eyebrows furrowed, giving him a concerned expression, something Pony hadn't seen in what felt like years, "'A course I am Pone…are you okay? They musta' hit ya pretty hard."

Darry scrutinized Pony through narrowed eyes, "C'mon. You need to go home," he said.

Pony reached up to rub his face in the place where he'd been hit the most, "I'm fine Darry. It's not near as bad as last time," Darry had hardly let him out of the house after how bad he got beat in the rumble.

Darry's eyes widened, "Pony, what do you mean by last—,"

He was cut off by a sudden loud whoop that was coming from behind Ponyboy, a cheer that Ponyboy recognized from what seemed like ages ago.

"Didja' catch 'em?" Soda asked, his concerned gaze still on Ponyboy.

"'Nup. They got away the dirty—" Two-Bit went on to call the socs many unprintable names. All of which Pony had heard before, in what he recalled as a very similar conversation.

_Darry was right_, he thought_, I need to go home and get some rest. _

Before he told Darry he wanted to go home he turned around to inspect Two-Bit. His words had seemed un-slurred and from what Pony could tell he appeared to be sober for the first time in four months._ Maybe everyone was having breakthroughs today_, he thought before he looked beyond Two-Bit, and saw the figures standing there.

_Not a normal blackout._

Three boys stood behind Two-Bit him. Two of them were dead. Or supposed to be.

"J-Johnny? D-Dally?" he stuttered incredulously.

Dally raised a sardonic eyebrow, "Got out early for good behavior," he said with a mocking smile.

"Guys, I think Pony took a good beating from the socs, he may—"

For the second time that day, Darry was cut off, only this time it was by the sound of Pony retching as he hurled the contents of his stomach out onto the street.

"Aw, my shoes! C'mon man!" Two-Bit whined.


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, so I'm trying to make Pony look like a nut, but not so much of a nut that he can't recover himself.**

Pony didn't feel different. At least, not in the way one would expect to feel different after being hurled through time and space. In fact he felt markedly…similar. He lifted his head just in time to see Soda aim a sharp punch at Two-Bit, presumably because of his commentary. Ponyboy stood and completed the circle, with no one blocking his path should he decide to turn and flee.

For the moment, Pony disregarded the two ghosts who stood before him, one looking worried and the other marginally disgusted. Probably because of what was now covering Two-Bit's shoes.

Pony lifted his hand to his face, and just for a moment he allowed himself to hide behind them. Hesitantly, he pushed his right hand further up, into his hair and felt for the scar he knew should be there.

It was. Just as it had the day before, the scar he earned from the rumble sat roughly four inches above his right ear.

Darry misinterpreted his searching hands, "Did they getcha' in the head, Ponyboy?" he asked the question gruffly, in a way that would've made Pony angry only months before. His tone used to make Pony inwardly hurl accusations at Darry, but now it only reminded Pony that Darry, for all his brains, had difficulty expressing his emotions.

Still, Pony did not answer him. Instead he subtly flexed his arms, the muscles he had grown accustomed to in the recent months remained just as the scar did. "Whoa!" Two-Bit exclaimed, "Hot damn, Ponyboy! Since when did you get muscles like superman?"

The gang broke out in chatter, admiring Pony's impressive figure. _What the hell?_ Soda thought. He was damn near positive those hadn't been there yesterday. Not that Pony had been a wimp by any means but he sure as hell hadn't been packin' heat like that. Darry seemed to be considering the same thing, his confusion palpable.

Steve flexed his own muscles then eyed the kid. There was no fucking way the kid had outgrown him in a matter of days.

Dallas noticed Steve's comparison and let out a bark of laughter, "Hey, looks like the kid's shot up some inches to while I was in the cooler. You been liftin' weights Ponyboy?"

Pony looked up at Johnny and Dally, finally acknowledging them. The gang seemed to take his mystified expression as residual reactions left over from being jumped.

_They're here_, Ponyboy thought, they stood in front of him, looking for all the world just as they had mere months ago. "Hold shit," he muttered under his breath. _This isn't real. It can't be happening. Things like this like this…they just don't happen, not to greasers, not to me._

"Ponyboy?" Pony was snapped out of his musings by Johnny's tentative questioning. The gang, even Dally, looked rather concerned. Pony realized they must have been asking him if he was alright.

Ponyboy fought the insane urge to laugh like a maniac, he fought it and he quickly lost. The laughter slipped, uncontrolled from his lips, "Concerned." He said it so quietly that the gang had to struggle to make out the soft word, "You came back from the dead," Ponyboy said louder, "and you're concerned about me?"

"Back from the dead?" Dallas repeated, "Kid, I know the cooler ain't a place you go for vacation but it ain't _that_ bad."

"Yes," Darry interjected, not wanting Pony to get any bright ideas from Dallas Winston, "it is."

Dallas rolled his eyes.

"This can't be real," Pony said again and Two-Bit eyed him warily.

"Ponyboy, how hard did those damn socs hit ya'? We're gonna find those dirty fuckers and make them regret the day they were born!" Two-Bit promised and the rest of the gang nodded assuredly.

Pony, however, barely registered what Two-Bit said.

Another time and place perhaps he would've marveled at how Two-Bit's voice was remarkably clear, as though he'd yet to touch a drop of alcohol that day. His heart might've stuck in his throat when he realized that Soda was nodding emphatically, showing Ponyboy more emotion than it has in months. And Steve, who was normally spoiling for a fight only nodded along with everyone else, his temper cooled somewhat.

Instead Ponyboy just looked at Johnny and Dallas and his thoughts repeated themselves, _this can't be happening,_ but in a flash of brilliance he knew how he could confirm it, confirm if this was a bitter dream or wonderful reality.

Abruptly his head snapped up and his eyes collided with Darry's. "I gotta' go," he muttered, both declaring and asking for permission at the same time.

Darry blinked, completely unaccustomed to Ponyboy's actions. It wasn't his request but the way he asked it, the way he spoke directly to Darry and disregarded everyone else as if they weren't of any consequence. Usually when Ponyboy asked Darry for anything he angled his body and almost seemed to be asking anyone else in the vicinity as well as Darry. Like Ponyboy was appealing to them to help persuade Darry. Now, he appealed only to Darry.

The rest of the gang just stared at him looking cautious and concerned. Ponyboy knew he must sound ludicrous but he was also decently positive that he wasn't crazy. In fact, of all of them, he was the sanest. He was. Sodapop was a ghost of a person, Two-Bit was too drunk to be sane and Steve was the very definition of madness. Johnny and Dally were dead so they didn't count. Besides, if he died Ponyboy was pretty sure that he wouldn't stay sane for long.

"Except Darry," he amended out loud, "Darry's always been the sanest, I guess," he said as he backed away. The gang blinked at Pony's sudden assertion.

"Yeah," Two-Bit replied to Pony's vocal thoughts, "but I'll tell you what kid, before today you had a real shot at that title," this, of course, earned him another punch from Sodapop.

"Pony," Darry stepped forward, and Pony knew this was his only chance. He had to go now if he wanted to confirm or disprove what the hell he thought was going on.

Ponyboy turned and bolted, knowing that none of them had a prayer of catching him, "I gotta' go check something!" he called over his shoulder, "I'll meet you at home!"

"_Ponyboy Michael Curtis_ you get your ass back here!" Darry hollered, but Ponyboy knew what he really meant was 'Ponyboy Michael Curtis I'm worried you've lost it and I don't want you running around on your own out there!'

But Ponyboy had to do this. If he was wrong and this was all a cruel dream then he would wake up and continue to desperately miss what he had been given a small taste of here. But if he was right…well if he was right he sure as all _hell_ wasn't gonna give up his chance. And if he was right, boy, would he have some explain' to do.

**VVvvvVVvVvvXXXxxXxXxXXXx**

"_Ponyboy Michael Curtis!"_

"Hey! _Be careful!"_

"Sodapop! Don't tell him to be careful, tell him to get his ass back here!"

"Wait up, Ponyboy!"

"Kid! You're gonna…hurt yourself or some shit…what the fuck?"

"Goddamn that kid can run! Wait; is _that _what he does in track?"

**(A/N guess who said what…)**

The boys watched as Pony disappeared, "Well," Two-Bit said, "he's finally cracked!"

Soda and Darry each gave him a hard punch to the arm while Johnny glared.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Steve asked, each member of the gang instinctively looking to Darry.

Darry, still unbelievably pissed, calmed himself enough to think of a plan, "Well, he said he'd meet us at home. So Johnny, you, Soda and Steve go back to our place and wait for him. Dally, Two-Bit, we're gonna get in our cars and drive around and see if we can spot him," Darry finished firmly.

Dallas grumbled something about having already had plans and Ponyboy's god awful timing, but they had all seen the look in the kid's eye. Not insane, that wasn't the right word for it, but something…something wasn't right.

"Hey," Two-Bit said suddenly, "I had planned on gettin' boozed up tonight, can I still—?"

"No!" several voices answered.

"Alright, alright!"


End file.
